Happy Birthday Ameryn!

Time flies by when you are having fun. That is so true of the time that we have had with our wonderful firstborn. She has been such a joy for us! It is so hard to believe that it was five years ago today that we were so incomprehensibly blessed with our daughter! I will share with you the day that our lives were so radically, and yet beautifully changed. I went to bed Tuesday night as usual. I felt no different than I had any other night in my final month. I fully believed that I would hold onto this baby until the scheduled induction I had for Friday. You see, I was five days overdue, and the were expecting me to have a giant baby being that I was so huge. I had to have another ultrasound about a month prior to check on her size because they were worried that she would be too big for me! She measured perfectly at that time, and they estimated that she would be between seven and nine pounds at birth. Chris and I were not worried about her size, we had always figured that with both of us being a little more than eight pounds at birth, our kids would be around that too. I had taken Tuesday off from work, figuring that I should take my boss up on the offer to take a day off to relax before I had the baby. I was fully intending to go back to work on Wednesday and work until my induction. Ameryn, thankfully, had other plans for my week! at 12:30 a.m. I startled awake. I really had no idea why, but after laying there for no more than three seconds I heard and felt a little "pop." I rushed into the restroom and sure enough, my water had broken. I tried to call out for Chris, who had fallen asleep on the couch. I finally got up and made my way into the living room to wake him up. I didn't have to do much three words brought him back from his eight hour coma in a snap. "My water broke" and he jumped up and gave me a hug, and voiced the question that was on my mind "what do we do now?" I had not really planned for this. In my mind labor always begun with contractions that you timed and new when things were getting close. We knew that once my contractions were five minutes apart it was time to call Dr. Scott and head to the hospital. I mean geez, didn't this usually happen well into labor, sometimes not until right before delivery? It was not what i was anticipating, but I was rolling with it (but really, there was not anything else I could do:). I called my doctors after hours service, hoping they were not going to tell me to wait around until I started contracting! They didn't. After a few questions to be fairly certain that it was my water breaking, not just some other issue that can happen with a very pregnant woman, the answering nurse put the call into the doctor, assuring me that they would call me back in minutes. I did not wait long before the phone rang again and Dr. Scott told me to head to the hospital. It was her surgery day, so my delivering Dr. would be Dr. Crowe. I had met and had a few appointments with Dr. Crowe, so I was not to upset not to have my regular doctor. Chris and I each got a shower and quickly made our way to The hospital. After a brief test to be sure that things were really happening, we were shown back to our room. I was hooked up to monitoring devices and given my IV. They gave me pitocin to start contractions, being that my water had already broken and I was not having any yet. My Mom and Amy arrived shortly there after. I was going to try and deliver without an epidural, but pitocin brings on hard and strong contractions form square one, and I was having a lot of intense pain from it. I labored for four hours before I gave in and asked for some relief. I was terrified of the giant needle that was about to be inserted into my epidural space, but I was relieved that there was an end to the pain in sight. They would not let Chris hold my hand during the procedure, and I could only get a glimpse of Amy from where the nurse was standing. They had to tell me to calm down a few times and try to slow my breathing ( I was pretty much hyperventilating at this point) but once they were done everything was great! I could watch myself contracting on the monitor, and actually be relaxed enough to relax some. Notice that I said "relax" and not "sleep" people are always wanting you to get some sleep while in labor, and for me that is simply not possible. I don't really know how anybody would be able to sleep with a baby coming, but I digress. I pretty much had no progression and only dilated to about a two before 7:00 a.m. Chris' family and my Dad arrived shortly there after. I was pretty comfortable through the morning, finally progressing to a four at about 10:00 a.m. Dr. Crowe came and checked on my progress at about noon, and discovered that I had progressed two more centimeters to be at a six! They expected me to be at least a few more hours, so Dr. Crowe went to check on a lady who was a bit farther along than I was. I had started to feel a lot of pressure at this point and was feeling that things were really starting to happen. I asked for the nurse to check me again. They really didn't think it was necessary since I had just been checked an hour before, but they went ahead with it and discovered that I was a full 10 centimeters dilated! They paged Dr. Crowe and started to get things ready for the new baby. They decided to let me push, telling me that I would be pushing for at least two hours. After my first attempt the nurse got a funny look on her face and said to get Dr. Crowe immediately. Apparently I was much more efficient than they had anticipated :) . They had me stop pushing (which is next to impossible when your body decides to do it without your help) and Dr. Crowe came running in. In 15 minutes total Ameryn came into this world. It was 1:50 p.m., after 13 hours and 20 minutes of labor. She had beautiful golden blond hair and eyes that were so blue that you knew that they would stay blue. She weighed 8 lbs 4 1/2 oz, and was 20 1/4 inches long. She was such a good baby, and would sleep for five hours at night as soon as we brought her home (that lasted for about a week :). She has been such a blessing in our lives. She has a love for music, dancing, and all things Daddy! We love you sweet girl!

A Weekend In Gatlinburg

We decided this past week to take a little weekend trip to Gatlinburg. I started looking on the Internet for cabin rentals, but then we thought that we have never reserved anything before so why start now? Also we thought it might be nice for the kids to have a pool, and I have not seen a cabin with one yet :) . I got us all packed and ready and we started to leave Friday night. I say started because we made it across the green bridge and decided that we would get there so late (like midnight) that it would not be worth it! So we turned around, grabbed some dinner, and headed home. I set my alarm that night for 3a.m., thinking that I would get up and run to Walmart before it was time to go and get a few things that we would need. Didn't happen. I hit the snooze button until 3:30 and finally got up to shower and get ready to go. Chris and I got the car packed and woke the kids up around 4:30. They had a quick wardrobe change and got settled in the car for their long sleep to Gatlinburg! I love it that we were blessed with two very good car riders. Practically any drive longer than 30 minutes and they will go to sleep :) . We did have a hard time with Rogan at first, he would cry and cry in the car. When he turned one, and we were able to turn his car seat to the forward facing position, everything changed. He went from a crabby car rider to a very happy one! He just wanted to be able to see what was going on I guess! After heading out on the road I realized that I had forgotten to pack Rogan some shoes! So when we stopped in Clarksville to eat breakfast I had to run into Walmart and grab him some new ones! I was also able to pick up the few things that we needed then (instead of at 3a.m.), so it all worked out! when we got into Pigeon Forge, our friend Rachel called my phone. they were in Gatlinburg with another couple and wanted to know if we wanted to meet up for lunch. We were just coming up to the shopping center that they were at so we thought that we would stop and say hi right then. After learning what wild and crazy people were, ( going to Gatilinburg in peak season without a reserved place to stay is not for the feint of heart) who were not yet committed to any sleeping facility, they offered us the extra room in the cabin that they were staying in. We were quite shocked at the invite, and had no intentions of intruding on their trip, especially with two children in tow! They were very insistent, however, and we ended up staying with them that night. The cabin was gorgeous, and the kids had their very own jacuzzi bath tub to play in! We had so much fun shopping, go carting and bungee jumping (Skip and Rachel, we just cheered them on :)! We said goodbye to Skip, Rachel, and new friends Steve-o and Susanna, the next morning. It was so blazing hot that we decided to find a good place in the mountain to wade. Chris did an excellent job of finding the perfect spot while the kids and I took a little nap! The water was freezing, and Rogan did not want to go in it for awhile. This of course did not deter Ameryn, and she took to the water immediately! Rogan was quite content to throw rocks into the water for awhile.

I got in as well!

Who says you can't wade in a dress?

Rogan finally got in when he realized that the best throwing rocks are in fact in the water!

He was trying to follow his Daddy in this one. :)

Showing off her weapons of mass destruction.

Rogan is not a fan of wet clothing, so as each item got wet, they had to come off!

My family! We finished the day in downtown Gatlinburg with shopping, an arcade, and dinner at Cherokee Steak House. It was a really fun trip,I can't wait to go back!